For enhanced safety, the front seat shoulder belts of the Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid are height-adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of driver and passenger heights. A better fit can prevent injuries and the increased comfort also encourages passengers to buckle up. The GMC Terrain doesn’t offer height-adjustable front seat belts.
Both the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid and Terrain have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Terrain’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid Limited has standard Parking Collision Avoidance Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Terrain doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid. But it costs extra on the Terrain.
The Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them and moves the vehicle back into its lane. A system to reveal vehicles in the Terrain’s blind spot costs extra.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid has a standard rear cross-path warning system, which uses sensors in the rear bumper to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. Rear cross-path warning costs extra on the Terrain.
The Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Terrain doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
Both the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid and the Terrain have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras and available around view monitors.
The Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid weighs 728 to 1066 pounds more than the GMC Terrain. The NHTSA advises that heavier vehicles are much safer in collisions than their significantly lighter counterparts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does 35 MPH front crash tests on new vehicles. In this test, results indicate that the Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid is safer than the GMC Terrain:
|
Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid |
Terrain |
|
Driver |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
Neck Injury Risk |
16% |
17% |
Neck Stress |
149 lbs. |
190 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
50/51 lbs. |
363/349 lbs. |
|
Passenger |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
244 |
376 |
Chest Compression |
.4 inches |
.6 inches |
Neck Stress |
99 lbs. |
153 lbs. |
Leg Forces (l/r) |
222/167 lbs. |
264/236 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH and into a post at 20 MPH, results indicate that the Hyundai Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid is safer than the GMC Terrain:
|
Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid |
Terrain |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
61 |
109 |
Chest Movement |
1.1 inches |
1.1 inches |
Abdominal Force |
164 lbs. |
195 lbs. |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
148 |
288 |
Spine Acceleration |
54 G’s |
55 G’s |
|
Into Pole |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
376 |
377 |
Hip Force |
576 lbs. |
730 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.
For its top level performance in IIHS driver and passenger-side small overlap frontal, moderate overlap frontal, side impact, roof strength and head restraint tests, its standard vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention system, its standard vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention system, and its standard headlight’s “Good” rating, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety grants the Santa Fe Plug-In Hybrid its highest rating: “Top Safety Pick Plus” for 2022, a rating granted to only 87 vehicles tested by the IIHS. The Terrain last would have qualified as only a standard “Top Safety Pick” in 2017.